Boxshot 5.1.1 beta
14 Dec 2019
Another beta–version of Boxshot focused mostly on embedded models, but also having a nice new feature you will love. Keep reading for more details…
Custom Shapes
Select a shape, right click it, select Tools and locate the new item at the very bottom of the list:
Click Add to Shapes List.. and you will see the configuration window:
Finally, click Create to see the shape added to the left panel:
Custom shapes are stored as projects in the internal folder of Boxshot, and imported back when you drag them into the scene. Boxshot does not convert user shapes to 3D models, so all the configurable options are preserved. Boxshot also stores all the artwork with custom shapes for the peace of mind.
Some extra facts:
- Multiple selection is also supported, you can make a custom shape of a group of shapes;
- Use categories like “Books” or “Boxes” to get your shape listed next to the built–in ones;
- You can locate or delete a custom shape by right clicking it in the left panel;
- You need the Ultimate edition of Boxshot in order to use the feature.
Please give it a try and let us know what do you think.
Embedded Models Improvements
Overall, version 5.1 is about embedded models. This update adds some more nice options and features. First of all, we’ve changed the right panel of embedded models a bit:
The Load From File button becomes Update From File to better reflect what it does. As Boxshot keeps embedded models’ geometry inside projects, there is no obvious way to update the geometry, if the source model has changed. This button does exactly that. Click it, select a 3D model file and Boxshot will read it and update the embedded geometry with the new one. Best of all, the materials you already applied will be preserved.
Below come two buttons: Center Around Pivot and Move Pivot to Center. They both are for embedded models which geometry is not centered properly. The first button moves the geometry of the embedded model to the place where the model is actually located in the scene (to its pivot point). The second button does the opposite: it moves the pivot point to the center of the geometry. In both cases you get your model centered around its pivot. Use the buttons if your embedded model is placed somewhere inconvenient.
Boxshot doesn’t automatically scale 3rd–party models anymore when you drop them into the scene. Boxshot used to adjust scale and position of the models you dropped into the scene, so they fit the viewport. Sometimes it was acceptable and even convenient, but sometimes it affected the scale of shapes badly, especially when multiple shapes were imported at once. We decided to make this optional and disabled by default. You can turn it back on in settings, if you like.
Support for STL, PLY and DXF formats has been added. Let us know if you want more :)
Finally, the saving of embedded models has been improved for speed. It doesn’t really matter for small objects, but some really large scenes may take a while to be saved. This update significantly reduces saving time for such scenes.
Other Changes
- Unnamed “render later” jobs now use their project names;
- Lathe shape got “Align curve to floor” option that effectively removes the vertical offset of the curve, putting the shape on the floor;
- OBJ exporter has been improved a bit;
- Rendering preview has been improved for speed;
- Mac dock icon displays the recently used and currently opened files in the right click menu;
- Better support of rendering from Origami 3.
Besides that, a lot of changes have been made to the internals of Boxshot, aimed to improve its stability and performance.
We’d really like to hear back from you regarding the new features. Our internal TODO list for version 5.1 is quite short and we expect the next version to not having the “beta” tag, so if you find something that doesn’t work as expected, please let us know.
That’s all for today, enjoy your weekend :)